The potential of free‐choice learning for environmental participation in Greece

Free-choice learning suited to women’s participation needs in environmental decision-making processes

“…An assessment was made of their environmental characteristics and needs, and the factors enabling them to actively participate in decision-making processes, as well as their interest in freechoice learning. Skanavis et al (2005b) conclude that free-choice learning programmes can encourage the development of citizens' skills for collective environmental action, if the citizens already acquire the interest, motivation and values needed to become appropriately educated. However, there was no critical evaluation of the results or recommendations with respect to gender.…”

“…The importance of motivation, interest and emotion in the learning process itself, suggests that when women and men are interested and curious about something there is a high possibility that they will follow up on that feeling with action, resulting in meaningful learning (Dierking et al 2003). Skanavis, Sakellari, and Petreniti (2005b) also note the importance of motivation, interest and emotion in free-choice learning. In particular, they studied several groups of individuals with a broad spectrum of educational, career and age characteristics -all of whom were involved with environmental education in one way or another, or were interested in environmental protection.…”

“…The objectives for environmental education set out at the 1976 UNESCO-UNEP Tbilisi Intergovernmental Conference on Environmental Education -awareness, knowledge, attitudes, skills, and participation -provide a framework for promoting environmentally effective human behaviours (UNESCO 1978). Environmental education programmes that focus on promoting responsible citizenship behaviour -by providing citizens with the appropriate skills for critical thinking and with the ability to actively participate in environmental decision-making processes (Skanavis, Sakellari, and Petreniti 2005b) -are usually imagined as only based in formal educational settings, but informal or nonformal settings can also be considered.…”

[minus]plastic: influencing pro‐environmental attitudes among Singaporean youth

“…In communicating stimuli to impact youth attitudes, similar to past studies aiming to promote environmentally sustainable attitudes through active participation (Ballantyne and Packer 2005;Skanavis, Sakellari, and Petreniti 2005), we contend that effective campaign strategies are influential in shaping the learning experiences of the target audience. Here, the audiences' cognitive engagement in pro-environmental efforts is argued to be significant when made relevant to their interests (Chawla and Cushing 2007) and situational needs (Hillcoat et al 1995).…”

Education on Sustainable Development based on Local Agenda 21

“…Civic participation concerns are somehow addressed by Bullard [33] and Lindström and Johnsson [34]. On the other hand it has been demonstrated that citizens' environmental education enhances environmental knowledge and skills that could build their active participation in decision-making processes and strengthen their support of LA21 [35]. This paper attempts to address the above mentioned concerns in one Greek municipality where LA21 implementation has received considerable attention.…”